Slinkies
by KRMariG
Summary: If anything was for sure, it was that even in the darkest of times, you could always find light in the strangest of places.
1. Slinkies

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does. I did not invent slinkies, Richard James did.

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><p><em><strong>Slinkies<strong>_

Four boys were gathered in a circle in their dorm. In the middle of them, was a weird, hollow, cylinder object, formed by spiraling wires. Three of he four were staring at it in awe.

"What is it?" James asked.

"What does it do?" Sirius added. Peter stretched out his finger, looking as though it pained him to do so. He was millimeters away from touching the object before him.

"NO WORMTAIL!"

"DON'T TOUCH IT!"

"WHAT IF IT EXPLODES?"

"IT'S PROBABLY DANGEROUS!"

"GUYS! It's a slinky. Relax." Remus said picking up the toy and waving it around so that its ends flew around lazily. Peter had backed away quickly from it when James and Sirius warned him of the dangers of the object.

"What does it do?" Sirius asked cautiously approaching it.

"Anything you want it to. It doesn't really have a point. Here, take it." No one dared to step any closer. "Guys, come on. It's a Muggle toy, meant for children age six! It's not going to hurt you." Slowly, James came up to take it from Remus. "Good, now play with it."

"Prongs, what are you thinking!" Sirius exclaimed. James was holding the slinky as though it were going to bite him, not daring to do anything else with it.

"Moony said it was safe…right?" James said weakly.

"Prongs, drop it, and slowly back away." Peter suggested. Rolling his eyes, Remus took the toy from James and walked out the door, waiting for them to follow.

"Look. This is one way you can play with it." Remus set it down at the top of the steps from the Boys' Dorms leading to the Common Room. Slowly, the other three filed in. As soon as he was sure they were watching, Remus slowly pushed it so that it went down the stairs.

They got a bunch of odd looks from other Gryffindor students. The majority of the looks came from Muggleborns, including one from their new friend, Lily Evans. She signaled for Remus to come over to her, and when she did she asked the question everyone was thinking.

"What _are_ you guys doing?" Lily asked.

Remus smiled one of his rare mischievous smiles.

"Working on my plan. How else am I supposed to read in peace?"

Lily just laughed and walked away shaking her head. "Clever." She told him, before exiting the Common Room, although it was kind of hard to hear her. The slinky stopped going down the stairs a few moments later, and Remus looked up at his friends.

Sirius was grinning from ear to ear, and excitedly ran down the stair to retrieve it and make it go down the stairs again. James was backing away from it, still not sure what to make of it. Peter wasn't sure what to do. He obviously thought it was fun, but he was still scared of the foreign object. He walked forward a little, but still kept his distance. Remus couldn't help but smirk at three seventeen year olds being scared of a kiddy toy. Although, he couldn't complain. His planned worked better than he had thought, and his friends would leave him alone when he wanted to read to play with the slinky. For a while…

All good things come to an end. Remus's reading time ending when James, Peter, and Sirius became obsessed with slinkies. A month had passed form the original 'slinky experiment' and the three friends had gotten their own slinkies.

Slinkies that they decorated, named, and raced. Sirius's was named 'Lightning', and was charmed to be black, but when it goes down the stairs it would flash white, like its namesake. James's red and gold slinky was named 'Shredder'. Peter called his 'Dagger' and it was black and gold. Remus was unfortunately pulled into his friends' obsession and called his red and black slinky 'Thorn'.

One Saturday (their weekly slinky race day) they had actually gathered a pretty big crowd to watch the light-hearted game. James and Sirius seemed proud. Peter was in shock that some people were rooting for 'Dagger'. Remus, on the other hand, was confused about the joy these childish races gave their peers. (The race was now being held in a corridor, as the word spread to other houses.)

"Lily, _why_ is everyone _so into_ these races? I'm in them, in fact, I'm the reason they're being held! And…I don't get it! What's so cool about them? Even…is that Dumbledore?" Lily just laughed at his frustrated reaction.

"Remus, I don't really think it's all the races that get everyone's attention."

"Yeah, yeah. I know you are starting to have a slight…" the next few words were whispered so only they could hear. "Crush on James." That earned him a slap on his arm.

"It doesn't have anything to do with that! Anyways, why would Dumbledore, or Frank, or any other guy be here if it was for that reason?" Lily said.

"Maybe they're all gay…" Remus suggested.

"Remus! They're here because with the war going on, we all need a little laugh. Don't you see? I think that James and Sirius really only like this whole slinky thing because of the joy it gives everyone. Peter…I don't know if he notices. But if he did, I'm sure it would be the same way."

"Really? These 'slinky races' are making people happy?" Remus asked, still unsure.

"In the whole seriousness of the war, seeing a bunch of guys goofing off really helps you keep your sanity. That's why I'm here." Lily said with a shrug.

"Thanks Lily." Remus said hugging her in a brotherly way, before turning around. "Place your bets here! PLACE YOUR BETS! I SUGGEST BIDDING ON 'THORN!'"

"OI! MOONY, LIGHTNING'S GOING TO WHIP YOUR SORRY BUTT!"

Lily smiled, shaking her head at the childish madness taking place around her. If anything was for sure, it was that even in the darkest of times, you could always find light in the strangest of places.


	2. Author's Note, Thank You's!

Author's Note!

Thank you all so much for your review and reading this. Every favorite, alert, and review meant the world to me!

I'll probably be adding to this as the reviews go on, but I like to reply to every reviewer.

Courtney and Olivia: I already replied to you guys, so you don't count! :p Haha ily!

Souhait: Thank you so much! It means a lot to hear someone thinks my writing is 'brilliant!' Thank you!

ale-wholikessoupandotherthings: Again, thank you! That means a lot!

Louey06: Thank you so much! I try to make sure what I write is well-written, because I am a grammar nerd. :) Haha, that and my best friend would hurt me if i used bad grammar. My other best friend (I have a lot of best friends, haha) edited this (Olivia), so this wouldn't be nearly as good without her! And yeah, I was most proud of naming the slinkies. Oh, my crazy mind...

JediVulcan : Haha, thank you so much! Wouldn't you love that if that actually happened in your school? Teachers having slinky races! I would _love_ that! My friend read this, and the first thing we did when I went to her house was try out the whole slinky-race thing...as it turns out, it's pretty complicated. You can't have carpet on the stairs, you need the slinkies perfectly lined up, and then they have to be pushed down the right way or else they get stuck. Very difficult sport.

Rehema: Haha! Yeah, I have no idea where I got the idea for slinkies...I sometimes worry about my mental health. It was actually going to be the first chapter of my Marauders story (if I ever end up writing it...) but I decided this was much better. My favorite wizarding fascination is Mr. Weasley's fascination of rubber ducks in the second movie, though! Thanks for reading and the review, by the way! :)

RodentFace: I love your name, by the way. It made me chuckle a bit...I love slinkies as well! They're so fun to play with! I always liked this quote 'some people are like slinkies, they don't always serve a purpose, but they make you smile when they come down the stairs.' So, with that said, I'm glad my story made you smile! ;) I also wanted to say that I adore Alice and Frank as a couple, so yeah...I think that was my subconscious working there! Haha. I'm sorry to say, that there won't be another chapter. I have another one-shot with more chapters to add. And I'm going to post 3 new one-shots, and I have 2 full-blown Harry Potter stories underway. In fact, I'm thinking of either a one-shot or a full-blown story with another fandom I love, The Outsiders, but sadly, this won't have another chapter. But thank you, anyways for your support and review! It made my day!

PureAwesomeness13 : Loving the username. Thank you so much! And, yes I plan to keep writing. I have at least three (2 of which are harry Potter) one-shots on the way. :) By the way, thank you for your other reviews too, that just made my day...no, it made my life!

shimmeringbubbles : Bubbles. That is just...epic. Thanks for the review! I swear, when i email my best friend every time I get a review saying how happy it makes me, she must get really annoyed. Thank you, I try really hard to make my stories funny, so that means a lot. Another thing; people appreciate my stories? You, my dear reviewer, are awesome. Again, thank you for the reviews on my other stories. They also made my life. :)


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